Bible Study on Tuesday morning brought us back for the 4th or 5th time in the past many years to Paul's letter to the Rabbi Christ followers in Rome. The NIV (new international version) and maybe all Bibles, no matter the branch of Christianity or language of publication, arranges his many letters by order of length rather than chronologically or geographically, for example. This is the longest of the 13 attributed to him.
[Wikipedia in English for 'Epistle to the Romans']
In Romans 2:1–4 Paul warns hypocrites of condemning others for failing to follow Jewish Law while themselves also fail to fulfill its ultimate spirit, sticking to the letter of the law but missing the meaning of it. The men in the weekly Zoom get-together chewed on this timeless tension in general, but then also looked for examples in our own time and the people and places we know today, too.
Music is a precious metaphor or analogy so often. Here, too, it provided a way to think about Paul's warning about the connection of form and content, law and spirit. Consider the way a band, a soloist, or a choir learns a piece of music. The printed sheet of music is something like a law - a declared way things should be. However, blankly (lacking in spirit or verve) reproducing the pitches and rhythms in synch with the others does not express the full meaning and beauty (and truth) of the song. Only by practicing over and over can the performer's mind let go of the technical details of the printed 'law' and begin to hear one's fellow players. Perhaps at an even higher level the entire ensemble of performers begins to feel the swell and dip of the whole piece of music, not just thinking about one measure at a time or just one musical phrase, but also the much larger musical art all together. In other words, the music is only alive after the printed notes on the page of musical notations no longer confine the spirit of the players. Likewise in Paul's letter: it is not the legalisms, the details and preoccupation with small things that is the beginning and end of worship. Those elements of Law do exist and occupy a place of significance. But such things should not be confused with the larger spirit of the Law. In modern terms, it is the difference between Christianity and Churchianity; worshiping the Lord and Master versus the building and by-laws.
Taking the musical metaphor a little further, consider the creative power of (jazz) improvisation. There are rules and boundaries, but those do not define the art. Rather it is the free-flow and back and forth of one performer in relationship to the others that makes the whole thing pulse with life. Listeners can recognize phrases of well-known melodies woven into much larger unscripted meanings. In order to satisfy players and listeners alike there must be a constant tension between the 'Law' (tempo, whole group sync to each other, taking turns with each other) and the 'Spirit' (embellishment, variations, returns to the central pattern of melody). Too much 'flow' or too much 'control' will not allow the life of the event to rise up.
Leaving the land of music in order to venture into the arena of foreign language learning, there is another useful metaphor between 'law' and 'spirit' that Paul has put into his letter in the 2nd chapter of Romans. Newcomers to a language need to practice basic syllables, accent, and core vocabulary again and again; they have to 'walk' before they can 'run' or fly. Such things as word order, social status (addressing the right person in the right way) are a kind of linguistic and social grammar. Only by gaining a kind of 'muscle memory' can the student of foreign language go deeper and farther to express their own meanings. Intermediate-level students have the task of balancing "fluency" and "accuracy." Being overly concerned about making mistakes (accuracy focus) can inhibit the person from putting their skills into play. Being overly concerned with speed and repartee with native speakers (fluency focus) can mislead the person into believing they have no corrections to pay attention to – with the result that native speakers may struggle to catch the intended meaning, or may be caused embarrassment from errors in word choice, for example. Something similar may be true in the grammar of Christianity that Paul writes about: too much concern with ritual rightness could distract the faithful from the larger prize and main point - to love God and also one's neighbor as oneself. But too much concern with the Greatest Commandment (to love God and also one's neighbor as oneself) while disregarding the Law and process means that congregational efforts may fail through lack of common structure and ways.
Jesus states that he has come not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, not its letter but its spirit.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." [Matthew 5:17 NIV]
In conclusion, after reading and reflecting on Romans 2 the other day, the illustrations from making music & from speaking in a new language seem to line up with this essential tension Paul describes between leaning too much on the letter of the law (or the opposite, paying little attention to its particulars). So the next time something you hear or see gives you feelings of hypocrisy, think of the Jazz Masters jamming: holding on to the law, but just barely, in order to soar all together - not a lone voice but an ensemble raising their song.
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